Kottaras' HR in 10th lifts A's over Rangers

Tuesday

Sep 25, 2012 at 10:17 PM

ARLINGTON (AP) - George Kottaras hit a leadoff homer in the 10th inning and the Oakland Athletics moved within four games of the AL West lead by beating the first-place Texas Rangers 3-2 Tuesday night.

The A's began the day two games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL wild-card spot. The Angels played later against Seattle.

Texas' magic number remained at five for clinching its third straight division crown.

Scheduled starter Yu Darvish was scratched by the Rangers about 2½ hours before the first pitch because of a stiff neck. Scott Feldman took his place.

The A's lost the opener of the four-game series 5-4 Monday night. The teams play five more times over the final eight games of the season.

Evan Scribner (1-0) earned his first career victory with a perfect 10th, and Grant Balfour got three outs for his 21st save in 23 chances.

Kottaras hit a 3-2 fastball from Mark Lowe (0-2) into the first row of the upper deck in right field. The catcher has six home runs for the A's since he was acquired July 29 from Milwaukee.

Oakland has played five consecutive one-run games, winning two.

Chris Carter hit a solo homer for the A's with two outs in the fourth to tie the score at 2. He came into the game in a 6-for-45 funk with 27 strikeouts over his last 14 games.

Feldman was removed after allowing a leadoff single to Kottaras in the fifth. The right-hander allowed two runs and four hits in four-plus innings before being relieved by Michael Kirkman.

A trio of Texas relievers combined to allow one hit in five scoreless innings before Lowe gave up the decisive run.

Oakland starter Tommy Milone gave up three straight singles to start the game before retiring 15 of his next 16 batters. The young lefty yielded two unearned runs and six hits over six innings.

Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus opened the first with consecutive singles.

Josh Hamilton lined a single to right that went under Brandon Moss' glove, allowing Kinsler and Andrus to score on the error.

Moss, who played his 21st game in the outfield this season, started in right for a slumping Josh Reddick - mired in an 0-for-28 slump.

Reddick came in as a pinch-hitter and lined out to end the eighth.

Moss made up for his misplay with a running catch of Andrus' deep fly on the warning track with the bases loaded to end the seventh.

Daric Barton, making his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Sept. 10, had an RBI double in the second to cut Oakland's deficit to 2-1.

NOTES: Oakland CF Coco Crisp came in as a pinch-runner in the eighth and stole second. He was not in the starting lineup for the seventh game in a row because of an eye infection. ... Andrus came into the game in a 4-for-32 slump. ... The A's struck out 15 times and have 1,322 for the season, two short of the AL record set in 2007 by Tampa Bay. ... Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach was in a front-row seat near the Texas dugout.

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